These are some of the notes from the lectures I gave to the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International at Sapele at their joint fellowship.
1. You can be self-employed and not really be an entrepreneur.
Self-employed people are involved in subsistence personal endeavours, such as working, eating, and resolving problems. The maximum achievement is to build a house, train children, and then pass on to glory. That’s great on its own, but nations don’t grow into economic giants through subsistence entrepreneurship.
Most times, they become prisoners of their vocation. They can never do without working, else their income will stop.
2. An Entrepreneur sees opportunities and sets out to harness them.
They are not prompted by hunger or need but see making money as a hobby. He/She sees making meaning before thinking of money. After making meaning, money will start running after him/her.
An Entrepreneur sees solving problems as the fountains where money spring from. Therefore, they set out to solve problems.
He who solves problems for others makes their monies flow in his/ her direction.
3. An entrepreneur is a futuristic thinker, planner, and investor.
They see what their neighbours do not see.
Take food, for example. There is going to be a massive increase in population, and at the same time, there is a lot of post-harvest wastage. The next phase of entrepreneurship tries to solve the challenges revolving around processing, preservation, and value-addition.
Once we can increase the shelf life of okazi, fluted pumpkin leaves, utazi, bitter leaf, mangoes, etc., we will make more money on a sustainable basis.
Take housing, for example. Modern housing estates are looking more like European or American enclaves within Nigeria. There is going to be the need to replicate small units like the Plantain City and Victoria Garden City in several places at affordable rates around Nigeria.
Our elite and those from the diaspora will prefer such estates to residing with the general population.
To be continued . . .
God Bless You.
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